The main trend I see happening to address this challenge is the creation of formal training agendas for the recruiting team. This is a good start and can instill a focus on learning on the team, but these agendas alone are insufficient to build the Talent Advisor capabilities we need in our recruiters.
Recruiters also need to activate the learning potential from on-the-job experiences. These experiences provide three times greater impact on recruiter performance than formal training programs. (Not to mention on-the-job learning is usually less expensive than formal training.)
Focus on the following activities to give recruiters high-impact work experiences:
- Access to best practice—Activities that teach the right approach to a problem (e.g., working with a lead or executive recruiter)
- Scope expansion—Activities that increase recruiters’ responsibilities (e.g., contributing to a workforce plan)
- Change and adversity—Turbulent situations that build flexibility (e.g., working on a requisition with rapidly changing circumstances or requirements)
- Challenging relationships—Situations that develop relationship skills (e.g., interacting with uninterested candidate leads)
- Persuasion and teaching—Activities where recruiters learn to influence (e.g., communicating a difficult decision to a hiring manager)
- Difficult decisions—Activities where the costs of making mistakes forces reflection (e.g., defining hiring needs for a new position)
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